4/3/12 VISI / Articles / The man behind the bacon You are here: Design / People / The man behind the bacon THE MAN BEHIND THE BACON April 2, 2012 Tags: design, sunglasses, interview STORIES IN DESIGN My first superbike Bright Young Thing: A Niemkiewicz Missibaba and Goss t Finally, a design muse Africa Dreaming Dutch IDEAS IN DESIGN Curate this space Invitation of the week VIEW ALL Daniel Scheffler gets down with Porky Hefer about design, his sleeping habits, and cucumber allergy. As a creative consultant this would-be rock star owns the Orwell-inspired collaborative known as Animal Farm on the forefront of re-inventing traditional branding models. With successes like the highly controversial Mavericks scent campaign, to wild childlike nests www.visi.co.za/content/article/1579/the-man-behind-the-bacon 1/6
2/6 with slides, to dazzles of past advertising industry merits locally and internationally, it turns out this enfant not-so-terrible is just a kid with a heart of gold. VISI: What is design for you? Design is actually the making of a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system. I prefer the stage before which is the conceptualisation of the object, idea or system. Do you see yourself as an artist or a designer? Or both/neither? Neither. I think I am not yet what I am ultimately meant to be. I think there are disciplines we should all learn or experience in order to achieve what we are meant to. At Design Indaba you spoke about shifting your comfort zone. How do you shift your comfort zone? By leaving advertising I shifted my zone. By proposing a slide in a nest to be built, I am shifting my comfort zone. I try to do it in everything I do so I am continually learning something new. I try to keep evolving and thinking of what is possible. New things are often difficult because we don t actually understand them. Once we have the experience it needs to be used rather than it never being tapped into. Talk me through your day from the moment you wake up. My neighbour s dog barking at 6.30 or 7 generally wakes me up. Depending if I feel like sleeping in or not - things only get better from there. Who are you, really? Willem David Hefer How did you get your fabulous name, Porky? I was on my way to being full Afrikaans and my Welsh/Zambian mother insisted on some sanity. How do you feel about Darwin s theory on evolution? See question above Where do you drink coffee? Deluxe, in the city Do you want children? I have a son Tao who is 20. But Yelda and I have decided to be children, not have them. What are you working on? A nest for inside, new lights, old lights, and my health.
3/6 Tell me about a project you ve worked on that you never talk about. The ultimate statute of Nelson Mandela. You have a wicked sense of humour. Tell me something witty about that. Timing Are you into the Hunger Games yet? I ll have to Google that. Where do you live? Why? Oranjezicht. It has a great sense of place with mountain and the bay. What is your life philosophy? Be you. How do you feel about South African design? I believe the designers are way ahead of the market and up there with the best in the world. I just don t think that South Africans understand that. Due to limited resources we have to think smart and this often creates a simpler product, which in my opinion is better. More than anything we need South Africans support in order to make design a healthy contributor to the country s economy and create much needed employment. South African design is already punching above its weight on an international level. And that s without any support to the individuals who are doing it themselves. We need to take pride like the Dutch do. Whom do you admire in life? And in the design milieu? Too many to mention. I don t have a favourite. I love so many things about so many people s work that affects me on different levels. I don t believe in disciplines but rather quanta, so many people from Buckminster Fuller to Ai Wei Wei to Rene Redzepi influence me. The Head Insect designer would be a favourite if I had to choose. How does your creative process work? Very random. Collisions. Violent collisions. Very noisy and then very quiet. Give me your reading list. Paul Theroux Ozone, William Warton Pride, Herman Wouk - Don t stop the carnival. And your favourite film would be? Tony Manero directed by Pablo Larraín. What do you want to achieve in your life? Happiness and to sleep in past 7am.
4/6 Your work has often been controversial. Are you by nature the antagonist? I think the people making the rules are antagonistic. Taboos today are tomorrow s mainstream. I like to play in the grey areas. Why don t you have a dog? I find it selfish. What music do you listen to? Kwazulu house and Kwaito at the moment. Do you miss New York? No but I miss the people. And the spontaneity. And the food. Where in the world would you say some serious creativity is happening? Istanbul and Africa. What do you fear? People no longer thinking for themselves. Social media. What s your opinion on social media, in particular Facebook and Twitter? I think it s a waste of time. It s a parallel universe that very rarely affects the real tangible world. It s democratising journalism and lowering the standard of writing, and I suppose achievement. And Ghost tweeters? Go figure. If you were a rock star who would you be? Dead or alive, of course. Jim Morrison. He s alive of course. Where do you like travelling to? Anywhere You remind me of Johnny Depp. How does that make you feel? Swashbuckling. Tell me about your fascinating wife. Incredible. Beautiful. Very talented. Turkish. Fatalist. Shoulder. Rock. Most stylish person I know. Disagrees a lot. My best friend.
5/6 Why do you get up in the morning? Because of the fucking dogs Would you like to come for supper? We don t eat lamb. Yelda is allergic to mushrooms and I am allergic to cucumber and beans. That s a yes, by the way. But we are complicated So, what s next? Locking up the office and dinner at the Duchess of Wisbeach. Thanks for the invite Mr Hefer. Don t follow Porky online, find him at Deluxe coffee. But if you have to, check out www.animalfarm.co.za. Like 1 Other articles that may interest you My first superbike Missibaba and Goss to open shop 0 Comments There are currently no comments for this item. Add a comment Please sign in below or register in order to make a comment. * Username * Password Forgotton password? Click the above link to reset your password. Terms & Conditions About Advertise Contact Magazine customer services Copyright 2012 All rights reserved. Other websites: Eat In Eat Out TASTE New Media Publishing Member of the DMMA